SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR WEEE REUSE

Transcription

1 Athens 2017, 5th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management, June 2017 SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR WEEE REUSE K. Abeliotis*, C. Chroni, K. Lasaridi School of Environment, Geography and Applied Economics Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

2 EU waste hierarchy

3 Re use Any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived

4 Preparation for re use Checking, cleaning or repairing operations, by which products or components of products that have become waste are prepared so that they can be re used without any other preprocessing

5 An initiative by a group of partners in order to enhance the public perception towards the reuse of electric appliances and to prevent the generation of WEEE Coordinator Beneficiaries

6 Target groups Public Citizens Stakeholders relevant to WEEE Management chain of WEEE and EEE repair

7 In order to achieve this objective, two WEEE sorting centers will operate for the first time in Greece, in the wider region of Attika and Central Macedonia The core activity of those centers is the collection, the storage and the sorting of WEEE depending on their condition and then their preparation for reuse or treatment

8 Focus of the LIFE+ ReWeee project

9 Aim of the study The presentation of the key parameters that need to be taken into account in order to assess the social impact resulting from the operation of the two sorting centers for WEEE reuse in Greece via means of S LCA.

10 What is social LCA? A method that can be used to assess the social and sociological aspects of products, their actual and potential positive as well as negative impacts along their life cycle.

11 UNEP guidelines

12 Goal and scope definition The study does not include the social impact from electricity generation and other inputs of a supporting kind, nor did it include the social impacts related to transport. These activities also have social impacts, but are not covered within the framework of this study.

13 Functional unit The operation of two sorting and preparation for reuse centres operating in Greece with an annual capacity of 2.5 tn of incoming WEEE. The case study sought to include the product system from cradle to grave and the impacts on all relevant stakeholders as suggested by the UNEP Guidelines

14 Main stakeholders Workers/employees Local community Society (national and global) Consumers (at every stage of the supply chain) Value chain actors

15 Subcategories

16

17 Social impacts of WEEE reuse Collection of WEEE requires personnel. Therefore it has a positive social impact since it generates new jobs Sorting of WEEE for preparation for reuse requires the employment of personnel which has a positive impact at the local level for the creation of jobs. Repair of recovered appliances generates jobs at the local level, which is a positive social impact.

18 Reuse of EEE extends the life span of appliances. Therefore the demand for new appliances is reduced in the geographical context where appliances are manufactured or assembled. Lower demand of appliances affects also negatively all the other stages in the supply chain of electrical and electronic equipment (transportation, use, collection).

19 Conclusions Preparation for reuse is among the most preferable options in waste treatment The operation of two EEE sorting and preparation for reuse centers operating in Greece is anticipated as part of an EU funded project The outline for a slca for the operation of the aforementioned centers has been presented

20 Acknowledgments The LIFE REWEEE project is implemented with the co financing of the European Commission through the LIFE+ Funding programme. Coordinator Beneficiaries